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Introductory  Word 

The  main  purpose  of  this  pamphlet  is  to 
supplement  the  book  prepared  by  Rev.  John 
H.  Freeman  on  “An  Oriental  Land  of  the 
Free’’  which  appeared  in  1910.  That  book 
treated  of  the  northern  half  of  Siam,  the 
country  of  the  Laos.  The  southern  half  of 
Siam  is  covered  herein. 

Besides  a  general  sketch  of  the  country, 
the  progress  of  Mission  work  since  1910  and 
the  present  situation  and  prospects  for  the 
near  future  have  been  briefly  set  forth. 

The  needs  and  the  opportunities,  as 
well  as  the  difficulties  and  the  successes 
of  this  mission  field,  are  fascinating. 


SIAM. 

General  Statement. 

The  country  of  Siam,  lying  east  of  British  Burma  and  west 
of  French  Indo  China,  and  extending  southward  contiguous  to 
the  Straits  Settlements,  contains  about  eight  million  people  of 
the  Tai  race  or  Free  People,  as  Tai  is  interpreted.  In  the  South 
they  are  called  Siamese,  while  in  the  North  they  are  known  as 
Laos.  There  is  also  a  large  and  growing  body  of  Chinese.  It  is 
one  of  the  three  independent  countries  of  Asia;  Japan  and  China 
being  the  other  two.  Its  government  is  that  of  a  despotic  mon¬ 
archy,  the  king  possessing  perhaps  the  most  absolute  and  arbi¬ 
trary  power  of  any  reigning  monarch.  There  is  union  of  Church 
and  State,  the  King  being  the  head  of  the  orthodox  Buddhism. 

There  has  been,  up  to  the  present  time,  very  little  national 
life,  and  consequently  almost  no  patriotism  or  love  of  country 
such  as  we  recognize  and  possess  in  the  West.  The  nation  has 
no  history  recorded  in  books,  no  literature  and,  up  to 
about  the  year  1914,  there  were  no  family  names  among  the 
people.  At  that  time  the  young  and  progressive  king  Vaji- 
ravudh  (pronounced  va-ji-ra-vut — accent  on  last  syllable)  was 
assigning  family  names  to  the  families  of  his  realm  and  had  com¬ 
passed  the  country  as  far  as  Chiengmai,  the  old  northern  capi¬ 
tal. 


KING  VAJIRAVUDH. 

The  king  is  a  graduate  of  Oxford  and  has  traveled  widely  in 
Europe.  He  has  not  followed  the  practice  of  polygamy,  which 
has  been  common  to  royalty  and  most  of  the  wealthy  class  in 
Siam,  but  has  steadily  maintained  by  word  and  precept,  in  so  far 
as  he  was  able  to  influence  others,  monogamy  as  being  neces¬ 
sary  for  the  proper  development  of  a  nation.  He  himself  is  a 
celibate  and  no  breath  of  scandal  has  ever  been  associated  with 
his  name. 

He  has  shown  himself  a  friend  of  our  missions  in  his  country 
and  has  materially  aided  particular  work,  notably  the  hospital 
and  medical  work  in  Tap  Teang,  in  the  south  and  the  leper 
asylum  in  the  north.  However,  in  his  attempt  to  amalgamate  his 
people  into  a  common  national  life,  he  is  using  practically  the 
only  instrument  which  is  common  to  all,  that  of  the  religion  of 
Buddhism.  In  doing  this  some  of  the  rules  and  regulations  pro¬ 
mulgated  by  the  government  have  seemed  to  be  hostile  to  mis- 


2 


sions  and  to  work  directly  against  the  interests  of  Christianity 
and  the  Christian  Church  in  Siam. 

For  instance,  difficulties  are  encountered  by  young  men  who 
have  become  Christians  when  they  seek  preferment  in  the  civil 
service  or  in  the  army,  such  as  the  rule  which  directs  servants 
of  the  government  to  bow  before  Buddhist  idols  or  join  in  the 
Buddhist  songs  or  chants  morning  and  evening,  which  can  be 
heard  from  the  barracks  where  soldiers  are  quartered.  There  is 
no  open  opposition,  however,  to  the  progress  of  Christian  work. 

DIFFICULTY  OF  EVANGELIZATION. 

The  great  difficulty  of  extending  Christianity  in  a  tropical. 
Buddhistic  country,  is  recognized  by  all  missionary  workers, 
Siam  being  perhaps  the  most  discouraging  and  unfruitful  field 
next  to  those  of  Mohammedanism.  Much  encouragement,  how¬ 
ever,  has  come  to  our  missionaries  latterly,  a  period  of  four  or 
five  years  showing  as  many  catechumens  and  accessions  to  the 
Christian  church  as  the  preceding  half  century  showed. 

MISSION  HISTORY. 

Protestant  mission  work  in  Siam  dates  back  as  far  as  1828, 
when  the  first  Protestant  missionaries  landed  and  made  limited 
investigations  as  to  settling  in  the  country.  Between  that  time 
and  1840  a  number  of  missionaries,  Presbyterian  and  others, 
landed  in  Bangkok,  the  capital,  but  spent  only  brief  periods 
there,  going  on,  for  the  most  part,  as  they  were  able,  to  the 
treaty  ports  of  China.  It  was  in  1840  that  the  first  regular 
Presbyterian  work  in  the  country  was  organized,  and  from  the 
year  1847,  when  Rev.  Stephen  Mattoon  and  wife,  and  Samuel 
House,  M.D.,  arrived,  Siam  has  never  been  without  Presby¬ 
terian  missionaries.  The  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  in  our 
day  is  the  only  body  conducting  missions  in  the  country,  ex¬ 
cepting  some  very  minor  work  at  one  or  two  points. 

BANGKOK. 

Bangkok,  the  capital,  represents  and  epitomizes  the  entire 
country  of  Siam  probably  in  greater  degree  than  London  does 
England,  or  Paris,  France.  There  is  not  an  important  public 
man  outside  the  city,  excepting  the  High  Commissioners,  ap¬ 
pointed  by  the  King,  who  are  temporarily  living  at  the  smaller 
capitals  of  monthons  or  provinces. 


3 


Siam  is  the  land  of  the  elepliant.  tie  not  only  has  irreat  intrinsic  value,  hut  is 
loved  as  a  (hjmestic  animal,  d’he  elejihant  has  been  most  useful  in  missioii 
service  in  Siam.  The  lonir  tours  of  I)i’.  INIcliilvary  in  the  early  days,  which 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  all  the  present  Mission  Stations  in  North  Siam 
were  niiule  on  eleithants.  The  v.ilue  of  an  elei)bant  raiifi'es  from  STIM)  to  S’JiKib. 
His  chief  use  iit  present  is  in  draK’K'intf  the  valuable  te:ik  lojrs  from  the  foi-est. 


Bangkok  has  a  population  of  some  700,000  Siamese  and  100,- 
000  Chinese,  but  the  Presbyterian  Mission  force  has  been  able 
to  do  very  little  city  evangelistic  work,  because  of  its  limited 
numbers  and  the  pressing  educational  work. 

The  Mission  plant  in  Bangkok  consists  of: 

The  Harriet  House  School  for  Girls, 

The  Bangkok  Christian  College  for  Boys, 

The  Mission  Press, 

The  Boon  Itt  Memorial  (A  work  conducted  after  the  man¬ 
ner  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.) 

The  Christian  Training  School  (Normal). 

These  agencies  and  the  great  heathen  city  present  the  field 
and  the  forces  that  need  just  now  to  be  supplemented  by  a 
worthy  evangelistic  effort,  so  that  the  great  city  may  feel  in 
many  districts  the  transforming  power  of  the  evangel. 


4 


OTHER  STATIONS  IN  SOUTH  SIAM. 

Petchaburi,  and  Pitsanuloke  to  the  West  and  North  of 
Bangkok,  and  Nakawn  and  Tap  Teang  to  the  South,  each  pre¬ 
sents  its  own  peculiar  needs  and  opportunities.  In  all, 
three  forms  of  missionary  activity  have  been  maintained,  i.  e., 
evangelization  throughout  the  district;  educational  work  and 
medical  work.  The  latter  has  always  been  a  prominent  feature 
of  the  work  in  Siam. 


Dr.  Howard  C'ampliell  and  his  ^iative  Evangelists 


EXTENSION. 

For  years  the  Mission  has  been  hoping  to  extend  its  work 
toward  the  East  and  Northeast,  where  a  new  station  could 
easily  be  established  at  Korat  or  Roy  Ett.  Just  as  soon  as 
funds  and  men  are  available  these  new  fields  will  be  opened  up. 

SIAM  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Siam  regards  the  United  States  as  the  home  of  its  special 
friends,  for  the  ministers  and  ambassadors  to  the  Court  at 
Bangkok  have  always  displayed  the  best  American  spirit  in  all 
their  dealings  with  the  Monarchy;  and  when  we  add  to  this,  the 


5 


fact  that  American  missionaries  have  been  the  pioneers  in  start¬ 
ing  Siam  on  her  road  toward  development,  and  have  intro¬ 
duced  her  not  only  to  the  true  religion,  but  to  Western  educa¬ 
tion  and  science  as  well,  we  can  understand  the  regard  in  which 
she  holds  the  United  States. 

SLAVERY. 

A  policy  was  adopted  by  the  late  King  Chulalongkorn  by 
which  slavery,  which  had  obtained  in  the  country  for  hundreds 
of  years,  would  eventually  be  abolished.  The  present  King  is 
carrying  these  measures  to  completion. 

EDUCATION. 

The  entire  educational  system  of  Siam,  with  its  bright  pros¬ 
pects,  is  the  direct  outgrowth  of  the  work  instituted  by  Ameri¬ 
can  missionaries. 

HEALTH  AND  SANITATION. 

Smallpox  has  been  practically  eliminated  from  Siam  by  the 
introduction  of  vaccination  by  American  missionary  physicians. 
A  compulsory  vaccination  law  has  been  promulgated  by  the 
King. 

Largely  through  the  work  in  hygiene  and  sanitation  accom¬ 
plished  by  our  medical  missionaries,  particularly  in  Nan  and 
Chiengmai  Stations,  the  Siamese  Government  last  year  ex¬ 
tended  an  invitation  to  the  Rockefeller  International  Health 
Commission  to  make  researches  and  develop  the  work  already 
begun  by  missionary  medical  men.  Two  men  are  now  in  Siam 
studying  and  working  for  this  Commission. 

Sanitary  science  has  been  emphasized  so  faithfully  by  Amer¬ 
ican  missionaries  that,  largely  because  of  their  influence,  the 
Government  has  recently  introduced  into  the  great  capital  of 
Bangkok,  containing  800,000  people,  a  modern  water  and  sewage 
system. 

RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR  INFLUENCE  ON  MISSION 

WORK. 

The  Royal  Railway  has  rapidly  been  extended  North  and 
South  from  Bangkok,  until  now  it  is  an  easy  journey  of  three 
or  four  days  from  the  larger  southern  towns  to  the  northern 
capital  of  Chiengmai.  This  means  new  life  to  the  districts 

6 


formerly  separated  from  each  other  by  almost  pathless  jungle 
and  mountain  ranges.  A  journey  up  the  River  from  Bangkok, 
formerly  required  about  six  weeks.  Mission  work  will  profit 
in  many  ways  from  these  increased  facilities,  and  in  time,  no 
doubt,  the  North  and  South  Siam  Missions  will  unite. 

KENNETH  McKENZIE  MEMORIAL  SCHOOL. 

This  school,  located  at  Lakawn,  Lampang,  has  a  beautiful 
new  building,  and  in  connection  with  its  work,  is  a  leather 
manufacturing  plant  and  tannery,  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in 
all  Siam.  At  the  present  time  the  Government  is  buying  its  en¬ 
tire  product.  The  missionary  enterprise  is  thus  showing  the 
Government  the  way  to  establish  industry  in  the  country,  and 
to  commercial  independence. 

PRINCE  ROYAL’S  COLLEGE. 

Our  boys’  school  and  College  of  the  North,  located  at  the 
northern  capital  of  Chiengmai,  is  named  after  the  present  King, 
when  he  was  Crown  Prince. 

The  enrollment  numbers  217,  students  being  in  attendance 
from  all  the  Stations  of  North  Siam,  some  of  the  boys  travel¬ 
ing  on  foot  from  Chieng  Rai,  eight  days  away,  and  some  even 
from  Nan,  fifteen  days  distant. 

The  students  never  fail  to  surpass  the  students  in  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  schools  when  taking  examinations  for  Government 
positions. 

By  far  the  larger  part  of  the  students  are  Christians,  and 
there  is  no  mistaking  the  Christian  atmosphere  of  the  campus. 
Students  and  teachers  engage  in  evangelistic  work  in  the  neigh¬ 
borhood,  and  leaders  are  being  developed  under  Christian 
auspices  who  will  hold  places  of  responsibility  before  the  people 
in  all  the  provinces  of  the  Kingdom. 

Many  are  taking  courses  which  will  prepare  them  to  enter 
the  Theological  School  or  the  new  Medical  School,  both  located 
at  Chiengmai,  and  indeed  the  leaders  in  every  department  of 
life  of  the  people  of  the  North,  including  skilled  craftsmanship 
and  agriculture,  are  coming  from  Prince  Royal’s  College.  This 
institution  is,  and  will  continue  to  be,  the  leading  educational 
institution  of  Northern  Siam.  President  William  Harris  has 
carefully  planned  for  additional  buildings  and  equipment  for 
which  some  $40,000  will  be  required. 


7 


'I'his  Iloy  Ai  Sam  is  one  (if  thf  iieai'ly  ^IK)  lepers  in  tlie  (  liieiiijniai  Asylnni.  Ilis 
father  and  mother  and  their  six  (ddldren  all  wei’e  lepers.  The  mother  and  three 
(ddldren  died  without  knowing'  tliat  there  was  an  .\syluin  in  Siam.  'I'he  father 
and  three  children  came  to  the  Asylum  and  all  lieeame  Christians. 


THE  CHIENGMAI  LEPER  ASYLUM. 


Siam  is  spotted  with  leprosy.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are 
10,000  of  these  sufferers  in  the  Kingdom.  They  are  feared, 
hated  and  cursed,  are  turned  out  from  their  homes  by  their 
families  who  do  not  know  how  to  take  care  of  them.  They 
wander  up  and  down  the  roads,  begging  and  utterly  hopeless  in 
their  dire  misery.  The  North  Siam  Mission,  however,  has  es¬ 
tablished  a  leper  asylum  at  Chiengmai  on  an  island  of  160  acres 
presented  to  them  for  this  purpose  by  His  Majesty,  the  King. 
In  this  haven  some  200  lepers  have  been  gathered  and  live  in 
neat  brick  houses  amid  cleanly  surroundings.  They  receive 
about  40c  a  week  each  for  subsistence.  The  entire  colony  has 
become  Christian,  and  recently  they  gave  out  of  savings  from 
their  allowance  money  a  sum  equal  to  $12  gold,  “To  be  sent  to 
lepers  in  some  other  land  who  are  less  fortunate  than  ourselves.” 

This  work  has  called  the  attention  of  all  classes  of  people 
in  Siam  to  the  beneficent  character  of  Christianity  in  the  most 
striking  way,  and  yet  it  is  only  one  illustration  out  of  many  of 
the  benefits  that  spring  out  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 
This  asylum  will,  no  doubt,  lead  the  Government  to  establish 
other  leper  asylums  where  lepers  will  be  segregated  and  as  a 
consequence  the  country  will  gradually  be  freed  from  the  ter¬ 
rible  menace. 

RECENT  PROGRESS  AND  SUCCESS  OF  MISSION 

WORK. 

There  have  been  more  accessions  to  the  Christian  church 
and  more  adherents  gathered  around  the  church  in  Siam  dur¬ 
ing  the  past  five  years  than  during  the  entire  preceding  fifty 
years.  There  is  a  total  membership  in  the  church  of  approxi¬ 
mately  8,000,  a  very  large  proportion  of  this  number  having 
come  in  through  the  agency  of  medical  evangelistic  work  which 
was  vigorously  carried  on  during  recent  severe  epidemics  of 
malignant  malaria.  This  disease  sweeps  through  villages,  de¬ 
stroying  lives  rapidly,  and  the  missionary  physicians  bringing 
effective  remedies  have  been  able  to  save  whole  districts  from 
the  scourge.  This  service  has  naturally  turned  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  the  people  toward  the  missionaries  and  their  message, 
and  great  numbers  learning  the  reasons  for  the  service  ren¬ 
dered  them  have  come  to  the  church  to  find  God  and  rest  from 
lives  of  fear  and  anguish. 


9 


His  Highness,  Prince  Songkla,  Brother  of  His  Majesty, 
the  King,  is  twenty-four  years  of  age  and  has  recently  come 
to  the  United  States  to  study  the  science  of  hygiene  and 
sanitation.  He  has  spent  ten  years  in  study  in  Europe,  but  now 
comes  to  America  to  be  fitted  to  help  his  country  in  these  ways. 

The  Prince  has  recently  given  out  the  following  testimony  to 
the  value  of  Mission  Work  in  Siam: 

“I  came  here,  both  because  I  believe  I  can  learn  most  here 
and  because  we  need  American  sympathy  and  help.  We  wish 
Americans  to  pay  attention  to  Siam.  We  wish  to  pay  attention 
to  America.  We  want  to  trade  with  you,  particularly  to  get 
your  agricultural  implements,  and  we  want  you  to  take  an  inter¬ 
est  in  us. 

“King  Vajiravudh  is  the  only  independent  Buddhist  sov¬ 
ereign  in  the  world,  and  as  such  is  regarded  as  the  chief  de¬ 
fender  of  the  religion  of  the  Buddha.  Nevertheless  no  for¬ 
eigners  are  more  welcome  to  Siam  than  American  Missionaries. 

“They  have  done  wonderful  things  for  us.  They  come  not 
to  make  money,  but  to  spend  it.  They  do  not  quarrel  over  the 
manner  in  which  the  Sacrament  shall  be  administered.  They 
teach,  they  minister  to  the  sick,  they  build  hospitals  and 
schools.  The  Presbyterian  Board  has  aided  greatly  our  edu¬ 
cational  authorities. 

“The  work  of  the  missionaries  from  America  is  construc¬ 
tive.  They  submit  wonderfully  to  our  laws.  They  do  not  in¬ 
terfere  in  our  politics.  They  teach  the  young  to  be  clean, 
honest  and  patriotic,  not  to  the  United  States,  but  patriotic  to 
Siam.  We  owe  a  great  debt  to  the  American  Missionaries. 
Their  deeds  are  the  kind  that  will  live  after  them,  a  constant 
inspiration  for  good.” 

A  UNIQUE  DEBATE  IN  SOUTHERN  SIAM. 

Dr.  Eugene  P.  Dunlap  gives  us  the  following  interesting  ac¬ 
count  of  what  was  known  as  a  preaching  service  recently  called 
together  by  the  High  Commissioner  of  the  Puket  District.  It 
was,  in  reality,  a  presentation  of  Buddhism  by  a  Buddhist  and 
of  Christianity  by  one  of  the  native  Christians.  Dr.  Dunlap’s 
description  follows: 

“The  unique  preaching  service  was  called  on  March  17,  1916, 
by  His  Highness,  the  High  Commissioner  of  the  Puket  Dis¬ 
trict.  His  Highness  spent  seven  years  in  London  and  attended 
Oxford  with  the  present  King  of  Siam.  He  sent  out  a  general 


lO 


Siamese  School  Children  at  Play 

invitation  to  the  Buddhists  of  Tap  Teang,  and  chose  the  Budd¬ 
hist  Bishop  of  Nakawn  Sri  Tamarat  to  represent  Buddhism  and 
to  speak  on  the  Five  Commands  of  Buddhism  for  the  laity.  He 
also  extended  a  cordial  invitation  to  all  Christians  of  the  Tap 
Teang  Church  to  attend  the  service.  Nearly  all  the  Christians 
and  missionaries  were  present.  The  High  Commissioner  in¬ 
vited  our  Senior  Evangelist  to  represent  Christianity,  and  no 
restrictions  were  placed  upon  him.  He  was  given  equal  liberty 
with  the  Buddhist  Bishop.  The  Bishop  has  been  in  the  Buddhist 
Priesthood  for  more  than  30  years,  and  about  20  years  ago  he 
was  made  Bishop  by  the  late  King  of  Siam.  He  was  a  fellow 
student  with  the  late  King’s  brother,  who  is  a  Buddhist  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Siam.  The  Senior  Evangelist,  Kroo  Sook,  was  for¬ 
merly  a  Buddhist  Head  Priest. 

“About  800  guests  were  present  and  paid  close  attention  to 
the  preaching.  The  Bishop  preached  earnestly  for  more  than 
one  hour,  and  was  listened  respectfully  to  by  all.  But  there  was 
no  demonstration. 


II 


“The  High  Commissioner  presided  over  the  entire  service, 
and  after  the  Bishop’s  sermon  he  invited  our  Senior  Evangelist, 
Kroo  Sook,  to  preach,  and  for  more  than  one  hour  the  grand 
old  man  poured  out  the  earnestness  of  his  soul  for  Jesus  Christ, 
his  Lord.  His  theme  was,  “Why  I  Became  a  Christian.’’  He 
told  of  Jesus’  wonderful  love,  so  manifest  in  his  humble  birth, 
and  so  fully  manifested  in  his  death  for  sinful  men,  on  the 
cross,  and  urged  all  to  rest  in  Him  for  the  salvation  of  their 
souls.  His  earnestness  so  impressed  his  hearers  that  they  re¬ 
sponded  with  happy  shouts  of  approval,  and  when  he  closed, 
almost  exhausted  by  his  earnest  efforts,  the  Bishop  was  the 
first  to  shake  his  hand  with  hearty  congratulations. 

“He  was  followed  by  the  congratulations  of  the  High  Com¬ 
missioner,  who,  laying  aside  all  distinctness  of  rank,  embraced 
the  evangelist  and  said,  ‘Where  did  you  learn  to  preach?  Did 
you  learn  how  in  the  Buddhist  Temple?’  He  replied:  ‘No, 
Your  Highness,  I  learned  to  preach  from  my  old  teacher.  Maw 
Dunlap.’  ‘Well,’  said  His  Highness,  ‘I  am  glad,  and  I  trust  you 
will  continue  to  preach  thus  all  your  life.’  ’’ 

The  whole  town  was  deeply  impressed  by  Kroo  Book’s  ac¬ 
count  of  Christianity,  and  ever  since  there  has  been  an  increased 
inquiry  after  the  real  Spirit  of  Christ.  Siam  is  now  open  to 
earnest  effort  for  Him. 


Little  Mothers,  North  Siam 

12 


The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the 

Presbyterian  Cliurch  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
156  Fifth  Avenue.  New  York 


November,  1916 


Form  24.59 


